Advertisement
Published: March 5th 2016
Edit Blog Post
Day 5 - Goodbye Taghazout, hello Casablanca
I was up, by the alarm, at 6.45 this morning. No yoga today, as I am leaving Taghazout to go to Casablanca to join an 8 da tour. I booked it last minute, so quite honestly I'm really not very well prepared! Laden and Chakib have been telling me that it is going to be cold where I am going so I've been doing some last minute shopping for warmer clothes! I'll be ok, apart from the footwear, no one had boots small enough for me to buy! I'll try again when the opportunity arises. It'll be alright in the end, if not, it's not the end.... As Ankur would say!
Larsen had got a taxi for me to go to the bus station this morning. He arrived at 7.30, and I was all set to go. The bus station is in Agadir, so it's about half an hour drive. He dropped me off and silently pointed me in the right direction! It was all pretty simple; everyone was really helpful, sending me from the ticket office, to the bag check in, then finally to the right bus stop! It all worked
out!
I sat on my backpack, living the feeling of not knowing what comes next. I thought about the time Tom and I sat in India waiting for our bus, feeling really proud of ourselves for getting around on our own!
After about an hour, it became so foggy. The view out of every window was non existent! You simply couldn't see anything! I considered that we must have been climbing a hill, as my hearing had completely gone for quite a while. After a further 20 minutes, the weather cleared, the sun came out again, and my hearing popped back in! The view is really baron, just stones and dry looking, as far as the eye can see. In some places there is a greenish hue, weeds I think!
I woke up after having a nap; a good hour had passed, the view was now completely different; we are driving through a town, but I have absolutely no idea which town... Lol
I settled down with a film on my iPad, Philomena, I do wonder if the Moroccan lady sat next to me is also watching it with me, with no sound! Lol
We
pulled into a bus station; everyone got off. I worked out that it is 3 1/2 hours into the journey, so we are halfway to Casablanca; time for a coffee! I asked the driver where we are, I am in Marrakech... Ahhh, at least I know where I am now, not that it makes any difference! Lol a coffee stop, is a welcome coffee stop, no matter where you are in the world!
The second half of the journey wasn't too bad. I finished watching my film, on my own this time. The Moroccan lady has chosen to go and sit with her friend, maybe I was snoring! I was so pleased that I had my new warm coat! It was cold air con on the bus!
We arrived at Casablanca bus station, many thanks to Chakib, I have data on my phone, so have mapped out my map to the hotel; it's only a 7 minute walk! It's not far, but did seem further with my backpack on. It's at 13k at the moment, I can guarantee... It will get heavier as the days go by!
I arrived at Moroccan House Hotel; it looks really nice.
I'm the only person here so far so I'm not sure if I'm in the room on my own, or sharing... Yet. I don't mind ... Whichever! I checked in, dropped my stuff and went over the road for coffee before meeting the group at 6pm.
We had the meeting with Hadel. All the from filling and introductions done. There are 13 people on he tour. A really mixed group, there are two couple and nine independents. The countries attending arevUK, Canada, Aus and USA. A new guy joined us late so m not sure where he's from!
After the introduction meeting we went to a local restaurant for our evening meal. I had vegetable soup and meatball tagine. It was really nice. I was certainly ready for that!
We returned to the hotel. Even though I slept on the bus coming over, I do still feel tired.
Tomorrow is an early start, breakfast at 7!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.686s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 14; qc: 52; dbt: 0.1999s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb